Summer AD 124 – Hadrian tours Asia (part 2) and visits Pergamon and Sardis (#Hadrian1900) FOLLOWING HADRIAN

In the summertime of 124, Hadrian continued his journey via the province of Asia, heading south to go to the nice cities of Pergamon, Sardis, Smyrna and Ephesus. From Hadrianotherae, the place the Emperor had a profitable bear hunt (see here), his route would have taken him up alongside the rugged Caicus River Valley, which joined Mysia’s fertile plains and luxurious forests to the Aegean Sea. Hadrian was accompanied by the nice sophist and outstanding determine of the province, Antonius Polemon, who was to be instrumental in Hadrian’s benefactions to the Ionian metropolis of Smyrna (Philostr. VS 530–31).

As soon as I accompanied the best king, and whereas we have been travelling with him from Thrace to Asia along with his troops and autos. We handed via many cities till we reached the ocean.

Literary sources don’t present details about Hadrian’s go to to Pergamon in 124. Nevertheless, the town’s wealthy historical historical past and considerable spiritual websites would have doubtless attracted the Emperor’s consideration, whose love of Hellenic tradition accounted for an ideal surge in public building within the metropolis and the province (Birley, 1997). Pergamon served because the capital of the Hellenistic kingdom of the Attalids, which dominated over giant components of Asia Minor in the course of the third and 2nd centuries BC. Town was a religious centre of the Greek world, aspiring to the status of classical Athens.

In accordance with historical sources, the town was based by the hero Pergamus, son of the warrior Neoptolemus and Andromache, inserting the origin of the settlement within the time of the Trojan War. Upon travelling to Asia Minor along with his mom, Pergamus killed the king of Teuthrania, renamed the capital after himself to Pergamum, and dominated as king. One other fable attributes the town’s founding to Telephos, the son of Herakles, who later grew to become king of Mysia and whose adventurous life and deeds adorned the partitions of the inside courtyard of the well-known Altar of Zeus (see here). Each origin myths related Pergamon with a outstanding Hellenistic hero whom the Attalid Dynasty used to strengthen their ancestry and legitimize their declare to energy.

Pergamus crossed into Asia and when he had killed Areius, ruler of Teuthrania, after they’d engaged in single fight for this man’s possessions he gave the title to the polis which nonetheless has that title at this time. (Paus., 1.11.2)

Pergamon started to achieve actual prominence in the course of the reign of Attalos I (r. 241–197 BC) when the town defeated the Galatians, the Celtic Gauls that migrated to Galatia, the area of central Anatolia. The capital reached its apogee below Eumenes II (r. 197–159 BC) and his brother Attalos II (r. 159– 138 BC), changing into essentially the most eminent centre of tradition of the Hellenistic interval for 150 years. Alongside Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch on the Orontes, Pergamon was one of many nice centres of Hellenistic artwork. It was famed above all for its sculptures, drawing intellectuals and artists from across the Mediterranean. Its library, established by Eumenes II as an annexe to his Temple of Athena on the acropolis, rivalled the nice Library of Alexandria with over 200,000 books, largely written on parchment.

Pergamon was constructed excessive above the Kaikos (Caicus) Valley on in depth terraces and retaining partitions with buildings tailored to the sloping terrain. Crucial buildings on the Acropolis, together with the defensive partitions, the altar of Zeus, the nice library, the palace, the Temple of Dionysus and the massive theatre, have been constructed in the course of the reign of Eumenes II, who spent the final years of his life primarily finishing up developmental work. Pergamon’s oldest temple was the sanctuary of Athena Polias, constructed within the Anatolian Doric order on the sacred place on the left of the superior entry of the Acropolis within the 4th century BC.

The Asklepieion, established on the positioning of an earlier spiritual sanctuary southwest of the town initially of the 4th century BC in a low space that includes springs, quickly developed into the town’s most essential suburban shrine. The early Asklepieion consisted of a number of temples, together with the primary temple of Asklepios Soter, an early remedy constructing, a fountain home, and several other altars. Below Eumenes, the sanctuary was linked to the town by a sacred manner and underwent main enlargement with the development of recent stoas, temples, a gymnasium and an enlarged remedy constructing.

In accordance with Pausanias (Paus. 2.26.8), the cult of Asklepios was based by a sure Archias. Archias injured himself whereas searching within the mountains close to Pergamon and went to Epidaurus, the place he was healed. He subsequently introduced the worship of Asklepios to Pergamon out of gratitude for the god, presumably within the 4th century BC. By the imperial interval, Asklepios had change into Pergameus deus, the town’s principal god (Martial 9.16.2).

Having cast a detailed alliance with Rome, the final Attalos bequeathed his empire to the Roman Republic in 133 BC, and part of the Pergamene Kingdom was declared the province of Asia. Pergamon grew to become the official capital of Asia, though the governor had moved his headquarters to Ephesus. Within the subsequent century, up till the time of Augustus, Roman affect within the area continued to broaden. Pergamon remained a cultural centre and a extremely valued well being resort in Roman imperial instances because of the Asklepieion. It was the primary metropolis within the province to have a temple devoted to the cult of the emperor.

The Greek communities of Asia had at all times competed with one another for standing and energy, and this rivalry continued below the empire. A extremely sought-after privilege was the title neokoros (temple warden), which was solely granted to communities with a provincial imperial cult temple. Though the title was not formally utilized to Pergamon till the top of the first century AD, the primary of the three temples that will in the end make Pergamon neokoros was the temple of Rome and Augustus.

In AD 114, Trajan granted Pergamon a second provincial temple, making it the primary metropolis to change into neokoros for the second time (SEG 18:558). This second temple was devoted to Zeus Philios (Latin: Jupiter Amicalis) and is usually referred to as the Trajaneum. The epithet Philios (pleasant), beforehand unknown at Pergamon, could signify the god’s patronage over the bond of friendship between Rome and the Greek cities of Asia (Burrell, 2004). The preliminary finance for this bold undertaking was supplied by A. Iulius Quadratus (cos. II suff. 105), a citizen of Pergamon and Trajan’s ‘most illustrious buddy., who was proconsul of Asia in 109/110 (IvP no. 441). Anthony Birley instructed that Zeus’ epithet Philios was chosen to represent the shut relationship between Trajan and Iulius Quadratus (Birley, 2007).

The temple of Zeus Philios and Trajan was constructed on vaults on a brand new terrace (68 x 58 m) at one of many highest factors of the Acropolis, overlooking the town. It was surrounded by stoas on three sides, with a 23 m. excessive wall retaining its open entrance. The temple stood some 18 m tall, featured 6 × 10 Corinthian columns, and was richly embellished with acanthus motifs and gorgoneia. It was arrange on a marble-covered podium swept out on both aspect to flank a flight of steps. The temple seems on bronze cash of the town of Pergamon from late within the reign of Trajan consisting of two coin varieties. The primary depicts the bust of Trajan on the obverse and that of Zeus on the reverse (RPC III, 1719). The opposite kind reveals the inside of a tetrastyle temple inside which Zeus Philios sat on his throne whereas Trajan stood subsequent to him within the guise of a army chief carrying the cuirass (RPC III, 1716).

The Trajaneum was accomplished below Hadrian, doubtless within the yr AD 129. Hadrian made important modifications to the temple’s precinct, including the colonnade enclosing the temple. Throughout excavations within the late nineteenth century, fragments of an inscription have been discovered within the vaults of the Trajaneum substructures. The inscription was a replica of a letter written by Hadrian in AD 137. Within the letter, Hadrian refused permission for Pergamenes to construct a temple for him however agreed to have his portrait erected within the temple of his father. His disapproval was primarily based on the truth that the town had already been granted two imperial cult temples (Burrell, 2004).

Fragments of three colossal cult statues have been found in the course of the reconstruction means of the Trajaneum. The statues have been acrolithic, composed of our bodies with a picket core, maybe encased with bronze, and with marble heads and extremities. The components of the statue of Zeus Philios which have been discovered point out that the god was seated on a throne. The portrait heads of Hadrian and Trajan and their physique fragments revealed that there have been standing statues. Each emperors have been depicted in the same pose, with the appropriate arm raised and the left arm lowered, and each have been wearing armour (Burrell, 2004).

Colossal head of Trajan. Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

Colossal head of Hadrian. Pergamon Museum, Berlin.

Throughout Hadrian’s reign, Pergamon struck a single, small-sized coin kind referring to the brand new temple within the title of Iulius Pollio. The obverse depicts the primary neocorate temple, whereas the reverse exhibits the Trajaneum with Augustus and Trajan inside their respective temple (RPC III, 1739).

In AD 124, Emperor Hadrian granted Pergamon the title of metropolis (mom metropolis), placing it in direct rivalry with Ephesus and Smyrna. This led to a surge in building exercise, ensuing within the simultaneous completion of a number of buildings and public works, together with the Crimson Basilica temple devoted to the Egyptian gods, the stadium, and the amphitheatre. Moreover, Hadrian rebuilt the Asklepieion, the shrine devoted to Asclepius, the god of drugs and therapeutic, and expanded it right into a lavish well being resort and medical centre extensively famend in Roman instances.

The therapeutic sanctuary began within the 4th century BC as a small shrine with a pool, fountain buildings, a number of altars and three temples, considered one of which held a cult picture of Asklepios Soter sculpted by Phyromachos of Athens (Polyb. 32.15.3-4 and Diod. Sic. 31.35). Over time, the positioning was expanded and skilled monumental modifications (18 constructing phases have been recognized) with further incubation buildings, an oblong plaza bordered by stoas, and a sacred highway (Through Tecta) connecting the sanctuary to the town. Hadrian initiated a large-scale reconstruction of the Hellenistic sacred precinct, including utterly new buildings on the east aspect between 124 and 138: a library, a porticoed propylon, a monumental courtyard, a big spherical temple devoted to Zeus Asclepius, and, in a barely later section (round AD 140), a rotunda (remedy constructing). In accordance with its preserved inscription, the propylon was devoted by A. Claudius Charax (see here). Behind the north portico, a 3,000-seat theatre was added, whereas the Sacred Approach (Through Tecta) resulting in the sanctuary was redesigned to incorporate a colonnaded avenue.

The brand new temple of Zeus Asclepius, devoted by L. Cuspius Pactumeius Rufinus, was modelled after Hadrian’s Pantheon in Rome, though it is portrayed on the cash as a regular temple (RPC IV.2, 3233). The stepped porch, which led to a broader and better pronaos, had 4 columns and was Corinthian, just like the depiction on the cash. The virtually 24-metre diameter corridor was initially embellished with variegated marble revetment. The corridor had a 2 x 2-metre plinth for a cult statue in a 9.15-metre tall area of interest reverse the entry (Burrell, 2004).

The brand new buildings, such because the theatre and library, turned the Asklepieion right into a centre of studying, resembling Hadrian’s library in Athens. The library, paid for and devoted by a lady named Flavia Melitine, was a well-decorated room. Its most outstanding function was a distinct segment on the centre of the rear wall the place a statue of “the god Hadrian” stood. This statue was linked to the Emperor’s worship due to its divine nudity and inscription to theos Hadrianos (Θεὸω Ἁδριανὸω).

Hadrian was additionally to be given the title Soter Olympios (Olympios the saviour) and be honoured as “the brand new Asclepius”. A dedication, most likely from Asklepieion, assimilates the Emperor with the therapeutic god (IvP II 365). The inscription is dated to between 129 and 138, on account of the epithet Olympios. The time period epiphanestatos (the one whose energy is most seen) makes Hadrian’s presence in Pergamum very doubtless (Birley, 1997).

‘To Hadrian Olympios the saviour, Lord of all males, king of the areas of the earth, essentially the most manifest New Asclepius’.

Asclepius does seem on some Hadrianic cistophori assigned to the mint of Pergamon (RPC III, 1324). The determine of Telesphorus, son of Asclepius, was additionally portrayed (RPC III, 1325) on a cistophorus. They have been struck most likely throughout Hadrian’s second journey via the province of Asia in AD 129.

It was believed that Asclepius both healed devotees throughout their sleep or communicated cures to them. The orator and rhetorician Aelius Aristides, born initially of Hadrian’s reign in Hadriani in Asia Minor, spent practically two years as a affected person on the Pergamene Asklepieion after arriving in Smyrna from Italy in October 144. He recounted his desires and experiences in his Sacred Tales (or Hieroi Logoi). Aelius Aristides’ writings include detailed descriptions of the ritual practices (sacrifices, dedications, singing, prayers, anointing, incubating) that occurred within the sanctuary within the 2nd century AD.

The Asklepion acquired nice fame within the second half of the 2nd century AD because of Galen, the famend doctor whose sufferers included a few of the empire’s most influential people and their households, together with the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. Born in Pergamon in AD 129, Galen thought-about himself a follower of Asclepius and labored within the Asklepieion for a few years. His father, Aelius Nico, was an architect and builder with an curiosity in arithmetic, logic, and astronomy and a passion for unique mathematical and literary recreations. His title, Aelius, signifies the grant of citizenship from Hadrian.

In accordance with Galen, an incident occurred at Pergamon. The “emperor Hadrian struck considered one of his attendants within the eye with a pen. When he realized that the person had change into blind in a single eye because of this stroke, he summoned him and invited him to request a present. However the man stayed silent. Hadrian repeated the provide, however the man declined and stated that each one he needed was his eye again —for what present may present compensation for the lack of an eye fixed?.”

One other construction which will have been constructed throughout Hadrian’s reign is the so-called Crimson Basilica (or Crimson Corridor), a monumental temple advanced on the base of the Acropolis hill in Pergamon’s decrease metropolis. It’s thought to have been devoted to the worship of the Graeco-Egyptian god Serapis and the Egyptian goddess Isis. To accommodate the massive temenos (ca. 200×100 m), the sanctuary needed to span the Selinus River and was supported by two vaulted tunnels crossing diagonally for about 150 metres. The temple, measuring 60×26 metres, was constructed with huge crimson brick masonry and concrete, a novel function in Asia Minor, and was adorned with varied colors of marble. It rose two tales excessive at over 19 metres, though the picket roof is now not current. The temple was entered from the west via an immense door measuring greater than 7 metres vast by at the least 14 metres excessive. A cult statue, maybe of Serapis, stood on a tall podium, with a gap permitting entrance to the statue’s inside, the place clergymen would make the deity ‘communicate’ throughout ceremonies.

Two rotundas stood inside courtyards to the north and south of the primary temple. Though they’ve been stripped of their authentic marble cladding, they’re nonetheless considerably intact. Within the early Byzantine interval, the central corridor was transformed right into a three-aisled Christian basilica devoted to the apostles John or Paul with a semicircular apse, galleries and a narthex.

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Hadrian’s subsequent cease on his journey was Sardis in Lydia, presumably after a short go to to Thyateira, the place the video games Hadrianeia Olympia commemorated the emperor’s go to (IGR IV 1260). Hadrian granted the town some privileges and donations, because the metropolis erected altars to him with the titles Soter (saviour) and Ktistes (founder). The Emperor most definitely travelled via the fertile Hermus River valley (trendy Gediz) to succeed in his vacation spot, passing via the Lydian metropolis of Saittai, the place cash have been minted to commemorate the imperial go to (Birley, 1997). One of many cash exhibits Hadrian shaking fingers with Tyche, the personification of the town, carrying the mural crown (RPC III, 2543A).

An inscription testifies to the Emperor’s presence within the Lydian metropolis. It was discovered outdoors the town on the foot of Mount Tmolus, a mountain vary south of Sardis on the Saittai–Sardis–Smyrna highway, which Hadrian would take to succeed in his subsequent vacation spot (AE 1957, 17). The inscription is devoted to Hadrian and Sabina and means that the empress was escorting him, at the least at this section of the journey. One other essential inscription is an eighteen-line dedication in Greek on a marble statue base of Hadrian found in Sardis in 2000 (see here). The dedication and the statue virtually definitely commemorated Hadrian’s go to to the town, as argued by F. Yegül here. One additional inscription in Hadrian’s honour, which named the proconsul Falco, was present in Trocetta (SEG 17:532). Nevertheless, it predates Hadrian’s arrival, as Falco’s time period of workplace ended within the spring of 124 (Birley, 1997).

“The Council and [the People] of the Sardians have devoted the (honorary statue of) Imperator Caesar, son of divus Traianus Parthicus, grandson of [divus] Nerva, Traianus Hadrianus Augustus, father of his nation, grasp of land and sea…”

Sardis was among the many most historical and eminent cities in the province of Asia, mendacity on the foothills of Mount Tmolus on the banks of the Pactolus River. Because the capital of the flourishing Kingdom of Lydia of the seventh century BC, Sardis achieved fame and wealth, particularly below the final Lydian king, Croesus, earlier than succumbing to the Persian conquest within the mid-Sixth century BC. Sardis fell, in flip, to the Athenians, the Seleucids, and the Attalids till it was conquered by the Romans in 133 BC.

Below the Achaemenid Persians (547 – 334 BC), Sardis was the capital of Anatolia’s main satrapy (province). It fashioned the top station for the Persian Royal Highway, which started in Susa in present-day Iran. After Alexander the Nice’s conquest, Sardis was included into the Hellenistic kingdoms and fashioned the western capital of the Seleucid empire when it acquired standing as a Greek city-state. The monumental temple to the goddess Artemis on the positioning dates to this era. The theatre of Sardis, now sadly in ruins, was additionally constructed throughout this era.

In 133 BC, Sardis got here below Roman rule when the final king of Pergamon, Attalus III Philometor, died and bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans. Town grew to become the metropolitan capital and centre of judicial administration of the Roman province of Lydia. Sardis was rebuilt after being destroyed by an earthquake in AD 17. In accordance with Tacitus (Annals 2.47), Tiberius awarded ten million sesterces for its reconstruction and agreed to waive all taxes due from Sardis and the opposite cities for 5 years after the earthquake.

Sardis constructed a provincial temple and was granted the title neokoros for it. Nevertheless, we have no idea below which Emperor Sardis acquired its first neokorate honours and provincial imperial cult temple. No recognized paperwork, inscriptions, or cash affirm the existence of Sardis’ first koinon temple. Earlier than Hadrian’s reign, the coverage was to have one temple for every emperor in every province. In consequence, we will get rid of some emperors from consideration. Augustus, Tiberius, and Caligula had already been honoured at Pergamon, Smyrna, and Miletus, whereas the Flavian cult was already effectively established at Ephesus. Moreover, Trajan’s temple, shared with Zeus Philios and later with Hadrian, was situated in Pergamon. This leaves Claudius, Nero, Nerva or Hadrian as potential candidates to obtain a provincial imperial cult at Sardis.

A big temple discovered on the northern slopes of the Sardian Acropolis (so-called Wadi B temple) could have been the primary temple of the imperial cult of Sardis (Foss, 1986). Nevertheless, the temple appears to have been destroyed round 140-150 AD and subsequently deserted (Burrell, 2004). A call could have been made to maneuver the provincial imperial cult into an older temple. That is the earliest documented case of a provincial imperial cult being established in an already-existing constructing as an alternative of a newly constructed one. T. Ritti and F. Yegül (learn here) suppose that Sardis was granted the second neokoria below Hadrian’s reign. An inscription from Hierapolis of the time of Hadrian, not too long ago printed by Tullia Ritti, helps the idea that the second neokorate of Sardis was awarded below Hadrian. It lists Lucius Julius Libonianus as “Excessive Priest of Asia, of the temples that are in Sardis.” Libonianus is understood from one other inscription from Sardis (Sardis 7,1 47).

Different (unpublished) inscriptions from Sardis point out the town because the “keeper of two Koinon temples of [the] Augusti [by virtue of the] decrees [of the sacred Senate]“ (Petzl, 2019), whereas a dedication on a statue base of Lucius Verus discovered in situ within the Tub-Gymnasium Advanced (more likely to have been arrange in honour of his return from his jap marketing campaign in 166), declares Sardis’ twice neokoros’. Town’s third neokorate got here below Elagabalus ca. AD 221, which was represented by giant bronze cash displaying the Emperor on the obverse and 4 temples, together with the temple of Kore with the temples for which the town was neokoros (Burrell, 2004).

The Sanctuary of Artemis at Sardis was located on the western slopes of the Acropolis beneath the Tmolus Mountains. It was began within the early third century BC in the course of the newly established Seleucid rule in Asia Minor. Development continued over centuries, however the temple was by no means accomplished. It began as a lone marble cella within the Hellenistic interval and was re-created in the course of the Roman Imperial interval as a pseudodipteros temple housing the twin cults of Artemis and the emperors. It was the fourth largest Ionic temple within the classical world (44 x 97m), with eight columns on the ends and twenty alongside the perimeters. The graduation of a main reconstruction effort to complete the temple most likely began in the course of the reign of Hadrian following the Emperor’s go to in 124.

The newly designed temple featured back-to-back cellas divided by a wall, the west-facing devoted to Artemis and the brand new east-facing incorporating the cult of the emperor. 5 colossal heads attributed to the Antonine household have been found inside or near the temple. These heads are recognized as Antoninus Pius, Faustina the Elder, Lucilla and Commodus. They might have belonged to acroliths statues standing within the east cella between columns or as a two-figure group on the central platform. The heads of Hadrian and Sabina are lacking, though female and male head fragments may be recognized because the imperial couple. The colossal head of the Faustina the Elder is now a part of the British Museum collection.

The Sardians later held penteteric video games for Hadrian because the “new Dionysos“ (Sardis VII,1 13 & 14) and erected a small altar devoted to “the Saviour and Founder Imperator Hadrianus Olympios“ (Sardis VII,2, 374). A stele reused as a water basin within the Byzantine Retailers mentions a Hadrianeion (Sardis VII,2 319), which is in any other case unknown however could be related to the town’s participation within the Hadrianic Panhellenion. It information a letter relating to considered one of Sardis’ residents named Polybios, who was honoured for serving as the town’s delegate to the Panhellenion, a league of choose Greek communities established by Hadrian in AD 131/2 and primarily based in Athens.

The Panhellenion attracted many cities and communities from Greece, Macedonia, Thrace, Asia, Crete, and Cyrenaica (see here), all of which aimed to advertise their Greek previous (though ancestrally, the Lydians of Sardis have been autochthonous, so it’s unclear how the Sardians claimed the Greek descent). The member cities celebrated their admission by erecting decrees on the Athenian Acropolis, and Sardis was considered one of them (see here). In addition they appointed a number of delegates to the league, often called Panhellenes, to characterize them on the league council (synedrion). Polybios was a Panhellene representing Sardis round AD 150. He’s additionally recognized to have erected a bust of Cicero at Sardis (Sardis VII.1.49). Moreover, a competition referred to as Hadrianeia is understood to have taken place.

Surprisingly, Artemis doesn’t seem within the cistophori or bronze cash of Hadrian assigned to Sardis. The truth is, the goddess disappeared from the epigraphic proof within the 1st century AD (de Hoz, 2016), and a brand new goddess appeared on the reverses of Sardian cash, Demeter/Ceres, in addition to the cult statue of an historical Lydian Kore (the Greek Persephone). Demeter is the goddess that Apollonius of Tyana, who lived within the 1st century AD, considers the goddess of Sardis when, in a letter addressed to its inhabitants (Epistulae 75), he says that the town «belongs to» Demeter. A number of the clearest representations of Demeter and Kore from Sardis are on the cistophori of Hadrian (RPC III, 1385 & RPC III, 1386). Moreover, the Eleusinian fable grew to become a regular coin motif with the depiction of the kidnapping of Persephone by Hades (RPC III, 1387).

Fashionable students have instructed varied prospects for the sudden look of those deities within the 2nd century AD and their enduring reputation into the third century AD, considered one of which signifies a revival of native and archaic cults and myths (de Hoz, 2016). The Sardians in Lydian instances worshipped a vegetation goddess, an Anatolian Kore, the Maiden. As De Hoz factors out, the cult of Kore is troublesome to separate from the opposite vegetation goddesses worshipped in Sardis. She additionally argues that “it’s […] impossible that within the 2nd century AD, the town would have chosen a brand new goddess that didn’t have a long-standing custom within the space as image of its cash of alliance with different cities”. Nevertheless, archaeology has as but to offer direct proof (source). A picture of the archaic Kore additionally seems on the figured capital from the south corridor of the Gymnasium (see here), whereas an inscription from Rome mentions a Sardian Kore and was accompanied by her statue (IGUR I 86).

The mint at Sardis additionally issued a coin that includes a portrait of Antinous on one aspect, known as HPΩC (Hero), and a scene on the opposite displaying Silenus sitting on an altar with the toddler Dionysus on his left knee (RPC III, 2407). Sardis’ alternative of images was significantly acceptable, as the parable explaining how a lot gold ended up within the space surrounding Sardis was centred round Dionysos and his aged companion Silenus (Ovid, Metamorphoses 11). Because the story goes, Silenus, an previous, drunken satyr, visited King Midas and was graciously acquired. In gratitude for Midas’s beneficiant hospitality, Dionysos granted the king one want. Midas requested for the facility to show every little thing that he touched into gold. Through the Hadrianic interval, Sardis minted at the least one different coin kind with this Silenus and child Dionysus imagery however with Dionysus on the obverse (RPC III, 2408A).

From Sardis, Hadrian, Sabina, and Antonius Polemo doubtless headed southwest, up and across the slopes of legendary Mount Tmolus, the very best peak within the area. Hadrian had a curious nature, and a passion for climbing heights would have undoubtedly piqued his curiosity. Strabo describes Mount Tmolus as a blessed mountain with a lookout level on the summit, an exedra of white stone from which the plains will be seen in a circle (Strabo 6.13.4–5). The dedication to Hadrian and Sabina discovered on its northern slope appears to help this itinerary. At any fee, it’s the route of Smyrna and Ephesus that the imperial celebration turned subsequent. It’s believed that earlier than reaching Ephesus, Hadrian stayed at two extra cities, Erythrae and Teos or Notion, the seaport of Colophon.

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